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On the tolerance of Christians
toward Atheists, and vice-versa

An essay donated by Robert Mettetal

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Quotations:

"Every religion is good that teaches man to be good; and I know
of none that instructs him to be bad." Thomas Paine

"Religion and morals are symmetrically opposed, just like poetry
and philosophy." Friedrich Von Schlegel

"Atheism... is as unyielding and dogmatic about religious belief
as true believers are about heathens. It tries to use reason to demolish
a structure that is not built upon reason." Sydney J. Harris

Although an atheist myself, I have always believed that most religious
beliefs are generally good, and that they only cross the line into
immorality when they are used to justify intolerance and hatred. The Bible
itself may urge intolerance, but most Christians and Jews are better than
the Bible they believe in, and they respect the rights of their neighbors
to believe whatever they wish. Those who urge intolerance, perhaps even to
the extent of violence, are in the minority among believers, and in the
extreme minority among clergymen.

This tolerance frequently doesn't extend itself to atheism, however.
Often, a Christian can't fathom how an atheist can have morals that aren't
grounded in Biblical teachings. They overlook, of course, the fact that
the concept of morality was explored by such Pagans as Plato, Socrates,
and other philosophers from this era in Greek history. Morality comes from
within, not from without. People have a natural antipathy towards killing,
stealing, and other such immoral acts, dictated to them by what is
commonly referred to as the conscience. It's not fear of damnation that
makes a criminal confess; it's guilt. Guilt is a natural feeling that goes
through a man when he realizes he has done something morally wrong.

If you want to look at it from a Biblical perspective: When Adam and Eve
ate the forbidden fruit, they gained the knowledge to distinguish good
from evil, and they passed this ability on to all their kin. Therefore,
even atheists should know good from evil, and how to avoid evil if they so
desire.

Christians also sometimes find themselves worrying that an atheist will go
to hell, and therefore feel sorry for them and attempt to "save" them so
that they will be able to enter heaven. This is a hopeless practice,
because people who call themselves "atheists" usually arrived at that
moniker through lots of intense thought and soul-searching. They long ago
made up their minds that they don't believe in God and nothing will make
them change their minds, short of God Himself descending from heaven to
shake their hand, and maybe not even then. Proselytizing is lost on an
atheist, almost without exception.

Atheists, except for the bravest and boldest of us, are afraid to tell
people that they are atheists, for fear of the millions of devout
Christians in this country who think they are immoral and on the road to
hell. Certainly, some of us are immoral (Stalin was an atheist), but so
are some Christians (Hitler was a Catholic). It's unfair to judge someone
based solely on their particular beliefs regarding the existence of a
deity.

There are two sides to this coin, however. Many atheists have responded to
Christian intolerance with equal intolerance towards the Christians.
Atheists have been known to refer to Christians as "hopelessly deluded,"
along with several other uncomplimentary names. Madalyn Murray O'Hair and
Jon Garth Murray in their "FAQs About Atheism" describe religious
beliefs as "old, silly ideas that we should have abandoned by now." 1 They also do not capitalize the names of any
religions, God, or the name of Jesus Christ, which is simply an open act
of disrespect.

It should be noted that they also say (supposedly speaking for all
atheists) that God "was never anything other than a fictional idea,"
suggesting that atheists actively disbelieve in God. Many atheists,
however, simply refuse to believe in God, but don't go so far as to
disbelieve in Him.

It seems like most of the atheists who speak out (rather than hide) hold
beliefs like these. When they make their atheism public, they seem to
immediately go on the offensive, attacking the beliefs of Christians
before they can attack their disbeliefs. The entire FAQ referred to above
seems more like one long treatise against Christianity than an explanation
of atheism.

Perhaps we should take a lesson from Martin Luther King, Jr. In his day,
African-Americans were vastly discriminated against, to the point that
whites tried to totally separate them from society. They had separate
restaurants, restrooms, and even schools. Violence was frequently
performed on African-Americans, and often there was no one in law
enforcement who would protect them. Dr. King, however, preached both love
and pacifism. He said:

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light
can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate
multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies
toughness in a descending spiral of destruction."

We atheists are
discriminated against far less than the African-Americans were in those
days, yet we seem to answer intolerance with intolerance and hatred with
hatred.

My point here is that if we atheists expect to be treated with respect by
Christians, we have got to treat them with respect too. We say that we
want the right to believe whatever we want without fear of discrimination.
Well, if we expect to get that right, we have to practice what we preach:
tolerance.